


Impossible

by CelticKnot



Series: Mass Effect Fictober 2019 [5]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Fictober 2019, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 03:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20923706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticKnot/pseuds/CelticKnot
Summary: MEFFictober prompt: Ghost. Tali encounters someone she never expected to see again





	Impossible

Tali had always believed in ghosts, but only in a metaphorical kind of way. She was of the opinion they existed in the eye of the beholder, so to speak, visible only to those who wanted or needed to see them. The products of a subconscious mind struggling to capture conscious attention.

So when her crew in orbit over Freedom's Progress had described a ship that immediately called the _Normandy_ to mind, she had dismissed the leaping of her heart and the hitch in her breath as the work of an overactive imagination. That ship was long gone, and besides, this one was flying Cerberus colors. 

But quarians knew ships. And she couldn't push the image out of her mind.

So when she and her ground team encountered a group of Cerberus personnel also exploring the deserted colony, she didn't believe her eyes at first. It was impossible, after all. Commander Shepard had been dead for two years, and besides, he would never, ever have joined up with Cerberus. Tali had been by his side as they'd explored the research bases and seen their horrible experiments. She had seen the look of sickened horror on his face when he saw what they'd done to Admiral Kahoku. And as much as she had admired him, she also knew Shepard had not been a particularly forgiving man. Even if he was alive, he would never—

But no matter how she reasoned with herself, no matter how many times she shook her head and blinked her eyes, the face of the Cerberus team's leader didn't change. And when she saw him in action… there was no denying it any longer. This was no ghost. He was alive. He was here.

Overwhelming joy and seething anger warred within her, making her head spin and her stomach churn. All this time, he'd been alive? He'd let the entire Galaxy mourn him for two years, allowed the Council to discredit him and dismiss his warnings, had reached out to not one single member of his crew with reassurance or explanation? And now he was working for _Cerberus?_

Impossible. And yet here he was.

There was only one way to get to the bottom of this. Tali steeled herself to confront the apparition, preparing to question it until she was satisfied with its answers.

What she hoped those answers would be, she couldn't say.


End file.
